Stopped trusting the "official" weather report and started using my own rain gauge

For months I was planning my garden watering around the local news, but my tomatoes kept getting drenched when they said 10% chance. After my third surprise storm I bought a $15 rain gauge at the hardware store and set it up in the backyard. Turns out my neighborhood gets almost double the rain they report from the airport station 8 miles away. Now I water based on what my gauge says and my plants are doing way better. Has anyone else found that the official data is way off for your specific area?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella2794d ago

My neighbor laughed at me when I set up my own gauge, but now he checks mine before he waters his lawn. The airport reading is useless when you live in a valley where the wind patterns are totally different. I found that even my backyard and front yard get different amounts depending on which way the storm comes in. Now I have two gauges (one on each side of the house) and I average them out for my watering schedule. It's wild how much those little microclimates matter once you start paying attention.

jamieburns3d ago

I've been doing the two-gauge thing for years now... it's the only way to get real numbers. One thing I learned the hard way though - make sure both gauges are exactly the same model. I had two different brands and one was always off by like a quarter inch. Also, check them after every storm because bugs or debris can clog the funnel and throw everything off. Another tip is to set them on a post or stake instead of just on the ground, otherwise you get splashback from the soil. You mentioned averaging them... that's smart, but I'd add that you might want to track the difference over time. I found out my south side always gets 10-15% less than the north side during summer storms, so I factor that into my watering now.